Amazon Kindle Doomed To Failure?

We think it's a bit early to declare Amazon's new Star-Trek-esque reader as a flop just yet. Sure it may not be the prettiest thing we've ever seen, and the price is a bit higher than what we were expecting, but all in all it could just be a glimpse of things yet to come.

Not everybody shares our optimistic outlook on new hardware, especially Don Reisinger of CNet, who writes:

“When bookstores are within driving distance and Amazon.com is a click away of most people, what's the impetus to use one of these?Everything I've heard from the proponents of this device attempt to glorify it as the "21st century's book." What a crock. E-book Readers provide few valuable experiences. And out of that list, the Sony Reader is easily the best device, but by and large, it's clunky to use and there aren't enough benefits of ownership to justify a purchase.”

Our suggestion: toss a Starfleet logo on the back of those things and market them on StarTrek.com and the money will start pouring in.

Seriously though, the idea of a portable device that can store more books than anyone is likely to need or cross reference in a clipboard-like format seems like it will be a hit with teachers, students, and possibly researchers. We don't know what kind of future the Kindle has, but we're not willing to sound the death knell this early.